Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Parrish: Alabama Power says its customers will repay about $740 million in costs related to one of its coal-burning power plants that’s scheduled to close in April.
ALASKA Anchorage: Climate scientists say the waters of the Bering Sea off the state have unprecedented low sea ice for the second straight year.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state House has approved a plan to raise taxes and tap into expected casino revenue to generate $300 million a year for the state’s highways.
CALIFORNIA Benbow: Two young sisters who were lost in a dense Northern California forest for nearly two days say they survived frigid nights by huddling together under a tree branch and a huckleberry bush and thinking “happy thoughts.”
COLORADO Craig: A new superintendent is taking over at Dinosaur National Monument. The Craig Daily Press reports Paul Scolari will begin work March 31.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Four communities will be honored with the 2018 Democracy Cup for their impressive Election Day voter turnouts. The winner in the small-town category is Washington; in the midsize-town category, Granby; in the large-town category, Guilford; and in the city category, West Hartford.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Researchers evaluated 160,000 real estate transactions in coastal Delaware from 2005 to 2017 and found properties are losing $300 million in value to flooding caused by sea level rise.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: A city councilman, Jack Evans, is under investigation for pitching proposals to lobbyists and leveraging his influence as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority chair and city’s longest-serving lawmaker. FLORIDA Key West: A man who flies air ambulances for the sheriff can also honk the 1958 song “Tequila” on a conch shell. David Masterson’s skills earned him this year’s best honker among men in the Conch Shell Blowing Contest in Key West, where natives are known as Conchs.
GEORGIA Atlanta: New laws being considered at the Capitol would regulate electric bikes and scooters in the Peach State.
HAWAII Haena: State officials say Haena State Park on Kauai has a new boardwalk and freshly paved parking lot, but visitors won’t get to use them until flood-damaged Kuhio Highway reopens and road access is restored.
IDAHO Boise: College students are searching for the remains of inmates buried at a penitentiary decades ago. KBOI-TV reports the Idaho Historical Society asked the geophysics club at Boise State University for help with filling in gaps in cemetery records.
ILLINOIS Springfield: A lawmaker has proposed legislation that aims to provide a more comprehensive definition of consent for sex education classes in the state.
INDIANA Munster: Data from the state show more public high school students are taking Advanced Placement exams.
IOWA Dubuque: Dubuque Community Schools leaders are proposing that staffers be equipped with a panic button app on their smartphones that could alert co-workers and 911 dispatchers to an emergency.
KANSAS Topeka: Several universities in the state say a decline in the number of international students hurts cultural diversity on campus and school finances.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: The state Senate’s budget-writing panel has unanimously rejected a request from Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration to borrow $50 million to fix up the state’s park system.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: As the city marked the end of Carnival on Fat Tuesday, Saints fans hammered home that they aren’t over the “nocall” that kept their team out of the Super Bowl. Blind referee and yellow penalty flag costumes were all the rage at Mardi Gras parades.
MAINE Bar Harbor: The state’s two U.S. senators say Jackson Laboratory is receiving a federal grant to advance its research of drug addiction and the role genetics play in it.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Maryland’s Senate has voted to make the state the first in the nation to ban foam containers for food and drinks. The measure now goes to the House.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A city councilman is renewing his push for an optional 13th year of high school.
MICHIGAN Traverse City: Four Canadian wolves have been relocated to Isle Royale National Park as part of an ongoing effort to restore the predator species on the Lake Superior island chain, officials say.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Schools in the North Star State are replacing pizza and chicken tenders at lunch with fresher, locally grown foods as education leaders and nutritionists rethink the school meal system.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Officials report an invasive aquatic plant has been found in another lake in the state. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks said Monday that giant salvinia has been found in Lake Okhissa.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: The founder of the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City is supporting legislation that would move the attraction to Jefferson City.
MONTANA Butte: The thermometer hit minus 46 degrees Monday at Elk Park, and a National Weather Service official says it could be the lowest temperature recorded in state history in the month of March.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Figures show the area’s historically low cost of living is on the rise.
NEVADA Reno: The Washoe County School District is abandoning a new policy that required students to do assignments online from home when classes were canceled over snow or other inclement weather.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Milford: The latest fishing and outdoor gear will be on display at the New Hampshire Outdoor Expo this weekend.
NEW JERSEY Cedar Grove: Cedar Grove High School apparently has the right stuff – New Kids on the Block filmed the group’s new music video there. Montclair University’s cheer team was also featured in the video for “Boys in the Band.”
NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: The city is the third-best travel destination in the U.S., Money magazine’s “20 Best Places to Go in 2019” list says.
NEW YORK West Point: The parents of a cadet fatally injured in a skiing accident raced the clock to get a judge’s permission to retrieve his sperm. Monica and Yongmin Zhu told the court Peter is the family’s only male child, and they worried that “our family name will die.”
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The world’s top pork producer is making a donation to a program that helps veterans transition to agriculture. The Smithfield Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Smithfield Foods, says it gave $200,000 to North Carolina State University’s Soldier to Agriculture Program.
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: Food pantry operators in the area say there has been an increase in the number of people seeking help with groceries.
OHIO Columbus: The state is offering grant money to help human trafficking victims get rid of tattoos or brands that were used to identify them as someone’s property.
OKLAHOMA Tulsa: Organizers of a project by a local billionaire to offer $10,000 to eligible workers who move to the city say they received an overwhelming response. Officials with the George Kaiser Family Foundation say they’ve selected more than 100 workers to move to and work remotely from Tulsa for at least a year.
OREGON Salem: The state’s natural resource agencies have spent millions of dollars regulating, policing and helping grow Oregon’s emerging cannabis industry – without additional staff or funding. That’s taken a toll on regular duties at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy and Water Resources Department. A bill pending in the Legislature would reimburse the agencies, using some of the pot tax money.
PENNSYLVANIA Glenside: A decades-old agreement between Arcadia University and a retired chemist has led to $8.6 million for the school.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state is offering $270,000 in grant funding to help food and farming businesses start or expand their operations in the Ocean State.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: The city is the 10th best place to live in the U.S., according to Livability.com.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: Gov. Kristi Noem is proposing legislation before construction begins on the Keystone XL oil pipeline that would create a way to go after out-of-state money that funds pipeline protests.
TENNESSEE Nashville: For the first time in nearly seven decades, Music City’s legendary locomotive No. 576 will roll down the tracks into Union Station on Saturday.
TEXAS Dallas: The Landmark Commission has approved a plan to remove the city’s 123-year-old Confederate War Memorial, which officials determined was a racist relic rather than a historic landmark.
UTAH Mendon: State wildlife officials have corralled more than 500 wild turkeys this winter in Cache County and moved them to the Book Cliffs.
VERMONT Bennington: Officials say Southern Vermont College will close at the end of the spring semester because of a decline in enrollment and related debt issues.
VIRGINIA Salem: Olde Salem Brewing Company has apologized for a beer that shares its name with a Hindu deity. The brewery said in a statement to WSLS-TV that it was making a musical reference when it named its Spanish milk stout “Hanuman.”
WASHINGTON Seattle: A lean year for orcas and fishermen is expected, with poor salmon returns forecast for many species all over the state.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Facebook says it’s going to help expand broadband internet in the state.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: More cheese, butter and yogurt makers than ever before have entered the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. The threeday event that started Tuesday is considered the largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the country.
WYOMING Devils Tower: National Park Service officials say Amnesty Kochanowski will become superintendent at Devils Tower National Monument March 17.